Posted By Josh Kopel On July 18, 2012 @ 11:53 am In Analytics,Featured | No Comments

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Well, it’s finally here folks. Today is the last day before the new version of Google Analytics becomes the only one available for use. Earlier today, Google officially announced[2] that they would be retiring the older version, and that means the time for hold-outs is over. So what’s new? Four big changes:

1. Real-time

The first, and biggest, difference between the old and new version is Real-time, which lets you see the impact of your advertising campaigns and traffic in, you guessed it, real time. This is huge for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it allows for much more accurate, constant updates on exactly how your site is engaging users. It can also help assess and reassess the effectiveness of campaigns and your use of social media. If you’re seeing that one tactic was useful immediately versus one that required time, you’ll be able to re-engineer your strategies to fit. The Real-time feature is unquestionably the big one of the new analytics.

2. Multi-Channel Funnels

The second feature is Multi-Channel Funnels, which allow for tracking the full path from click to conversion over a 30-day period, rather than just tracking the last link the user visited. This is especially significant for retailers, who will have far more data to work with, as well as the ability to meticulously analyze their customer’s path to purchase.

3. Social Reports

Third comes Social Reports, which tracks individual social networks and informs you of your conversion rate for each one. This way, you can assess the value of each social network and decide which ones to focus on and which to mark as being too labor intensive or low-conversion. Furthermore, it allows you to see how users from different social networks interact with your site, allowing you to gauge site formatting and content for its effectiveness with different media groups.

4. Mobile Reports

The fourth and final big change for Analytics is mobile reporting. Tailored to mobile app developers, Mobile Reports track acquisition, engagement, and outcome metrics, following each app through its entire life-cycle and providing key data about which devices are seeing the most usage of the app, where its being used, as well as user behavior. Better yet, it gives crash reports and shows how users are interacting with in-app content. This one is a must for any mobile campaign.

So, clearly there are some big changes that can be taken advantage of to improve, grow, and benefit a business and marketing campaign. Get to it and let us know what you think!